Iroquoian

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At the time of colonial contact in the early 1600s, the Mohawk (Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) were the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), inhabiting the Mohawk River Valley in present-day upstate New York. Their territory included three main village clusters—later called the Lower, Middle, and Upper Castles—centered around sites such as Ossernenon, Caughnawaga, and Canajoharie.

• Eastern Door of the Confederacy: The Mohawk were responsible for diplomacy with Algonquian neighbors and incoming Europeans. Their chiefs held key roles in the Haudenosaunee Grand Council.
   
• Trade and Warfare: Early trade with the Dutch at Fort Orange gave the Mohawk access to firearms and expanded their role in the regional fur trade. They played a leading role in the Beaver Wars and in conflicts with the French and Algonquian groups.
   
• Mission Influence: Some Mohawk converted to Christianity and migrated north to Jesuit mission towns in Canada, such as Kahnawà:ke, creating a lasting Mohawk presence in both countries.
   

Despite disease, warfare, and land loss, Mohawk communities endured and adapted, maintaining deep ties to both their traditional homelands and diaspora settlements.

My 9th great-grandmother, over a dozen times, Ots-Toch stands out as a deeply significant figure in early Northeastern colonial history —her husband, my 9th great-grandfather many times over Broer Cornelis Van Slyck, was known as the Peacemaker of Early New York.

Though the Van Slyck surname has faded within Mohawk communities, their descendants continue—especially among families in Akwesasne, Kahnawà:ke, and Tyendinaga bearing names like Benedict, Conners, Fadden, Gibson, Jacobs, LaFrance, Lazore, Mitchell, Porter, Smoke, Tarbell, and Thompson.

Though originally a French Huguenot family, the Devoes appear in Mohawk and mixed-heritage communities such as Akwesasne, Kahnawà:ke, Kanehsatà:ke, and the Mohawk Valley, alongside names like Van Slyke, Tarbell, Rice, and Jacobs—reflecting deep intermarriage with Mohawk families. My third great-grandmother, Hester Ann Devoe, born in Schaghticoke in 1791, descends from multiple lines of well-documented Algonquian and Iroquoian ancestry.